


Stars

by justgottabehonest



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Cuban Lance, Day At The Beach, Gay, Humor, Korean Keith, M/M, Ocean, Sad, Stars, klance, man I don't know how to tag, sfw, they're just so fucking gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-27
Updated: 2016-10-27
Packaged: 2018-08-27 07:25:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8392510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justgottabehonest/pseuds/justgottabehonest
Summary: Team Voltron stops at a tropical planet to relax, which makes Lance really homesick.  Klance ensues.  (I'm bad at summaries it's good I promise)





	

**Author's Note:**

> I originally wrote this to be apart of Klance week, but I procrastinated. But, here it is, some sappy ocean fighters in love.

The strange alien sun radiates a blue light against a purple sky. The air, rich in oxygen, tastes strangely like bananas and coconuts, and smells like dollar-store citrus shampoo.  Tropical, a little weird, yet pleasant for the visiting members of Team Voltron. They came on Coran's suggestion, as a sort of reward for their biggest success so far, and as a small gift for Allura.  The princess smiled brighter at the mention of Planet Dewrom.

 

Allura was surprised it was still in existence when they first arrived, stating rather wistfully how the planet never produced any intelligent life and was a popular vacation spot for higher-up Atlesian government officials. Coran added to her statement that the star system they were in would be in danger very soon. The bright blue burning star only has a few years left before heading on to it's next stage of life. This encourages the Paladins to make the most of their short stay on Dewrom, heading out onto the long beaches, littered with reddish sand, strange sea-life, and a perfectly lavender ocean that mirrors the sky above it.

 

Coran and Allura stay in the castle, the princess isn't quite strong enough to venture out just yet. The doors are open, though, letting the air permeate the castle, and they can see out to the beautiful planet from their windows and dream of better times. Pidge and Hunk do not go out into the water, either. They stay on the sand and work together on creating a nice meal, different from their usual goo. Pidge is satisfying her need to analyze by determining which shore-dwelling alien animals/plants are safe to eat, and, Hunk satisfying his need to eat by cooking and tasting said animals. Shiro, Keith, and Lance are in their tight water-resistant under-wear, fighting waves in the water.

 

Shiro is mostly out there to keep the two of them from drowning, he would preferably be sunbathing right now if it weren't for these two. Keith and Lance are in yet another contest started by the blue paladin over who can brace the waves better. For the first time in a while, Lance is actually getting the better of Keith. Keith, despite his strong frame, is getting knocked back easier than Lance is. The red paladin can't help but be bewildered. Sure sometimes Lance was better than some things, but never did he think that Lance could be better at this kind of endurance. He glances over at Shiro, who despite standing tall was looking tired of the waves, but not Lance. Lance just stands there, glistening, right foot square in front of the left foot, an arm up to protect his face from the salty walls of water, and an obnoxious toothy grin splattered on his face. When Keith tries to replicate the stance, he is only sucked into the sand below him, making him even more out of his element. It infuriates him to no end.

 

"Having trouble there, Mullet man?" Lance jeers at him after Keith is swept away yet again by a wave of water.

 

"No!" Keith complains as he pushes himself off of his knees, he scowls at the other boy and turns around.  Without contest he lets the next wave carry him back.  "This is pointless!"

 

"You're just mad because I'm winning!" he laughs, smiling wider than his normal smirk, once again standing strong against the ocean water.

 

Keith would rather die than to admit that Lance is correct in assuming his feelings on anything.  "I'm angry because this contest is stupid.  There's no point in me trying to fight the ocean!" The red paladin starts marching back towards dry land and finding it hard to quell his fury.

 

"FIGHT THE OCEAN!" Lance screams as another wave crashes over him.

 

Shiro decides to let Lance have his moment in the glory chair, since Lance doesn't get to be on top all that often, the leader addresses Keith as he gets closer to the beach, "Actually, this is a great balance and endurance exercise, we should have everyone out here doing this."

 

The pale-skinned teen half heartedly glares, "Whatever!"

 

Pidge and Hunk have taken notice of their teammate walking closer. Keith barely notices the delicious scent of the meal they have prepared, but he can't avoid it as he stomps past the two and towards the Castle nestled just a mile or so away in the thicket of alien trees. What smells like cooked crab and scallops makes his stomach rumble, a new wave of frustration hits him as he realizes all that work fighting water made him that hungry in the first place.

 

The largest paladin takes notice of Keith's irritation, but, doesn't comment out of confusion, as Hunk's unable to decide if he should be proud of Lance or attempt to calm down Keith. Pidge, on the other hand, could care less, they always do this and they always fizzle out. She calls out to her friends in the water, "Hey! Soup's on! We're heading back to the ship!"

 

Shiro, happy to finally have an excuse to get out of the water, starts splashing his way back towards land. A few paces into the trek, he notices the lack of show-boating in his peripheral vision. Shiro pivots to trot backwards, seeing Lance no longer bracing himself, only jumping with the swell of the incoming water. "You coming?"

 

"Nah, it's been forever since I've been in an ocean! I'll catch up!" Lance doesn't even turn back, the utter content and happiness are obvious in his voice. Shiro doesn't like the idea of leaving him out here by himself. He may be capable of piloting the giant blue robot lion and forming the universe's ultimate weapon, but an accidental drowning is never out of the question. His own stomach growls and he weighs the option of leaving him there. Obviously, Lance is experienced with water, he knows what he's doing. Shiro lets him stay and gives into his own hunger.

 

When the rest of them arrive back in the dinning room, Allura is almost in tears. Pidge and Hunk accidentally made Allura's favorite dish from this planet. Coran is absolutely flabbergasted and jealous at his friends for achieving such a great dish. When Allura's tears dry and they all settle into peacefully eating their meal. As time ticks by, they all notice two very important things. Lance isn't back yet and Keith is still sulking. "I hope he's okay," Allura says while chomping rather rudely into a bit of good alien crab.

 

Shiro nods in agreement, now rushing himself slightly to finish his food, "I knew I should have dragged him in."

 

Pidge, the most quiet at the table has been staring intently at Keith. Keith is eating the slowest out of all of them, practically glaring at his food. Even though they all recognize why, no one has yet to poke fun or reassure the young man. Pidge decides to knock Keith down a notch, for the sake of being clever. "Keith, aren't _you_ upset about Lance not being back?"

 

Keith bites hard into his food, " _No_ ," he replies through gritted teeth.

 

Hunk immediately sees what's about to go down. Pidge will make Keith flustered, the mullet hair will stalk off into his room, the universe will stack some crazy shit against them once again that will put Lance in danger, Keith will come to his senses and help rescue Lance, they have a bonding moment, and the universe makes them learn another sick and twisted lesson. Hunk, for one, wants to avoid that at all costs by any means necessary. He lets out a deep sigh, "Okay, stop it, Pidge. Don't patronize him for a contest he was bound to loose." Hunk resets his focus on Keith, "Look, man, Lance is very tan for a reason. He's a Cuban who grew up on Miami beach. The guy is totally back in his element right now. All he needs is his family and a couple of hot girls to flat out reject him. The contest he had with you is one that he used to do with his siblings all the dang time, whatever crazy amount of brothers and sisters he has would be out their for hours just doing that and talking."

 

Before Keith could express some belittling comment or a rolls of his eyes, Coran looks sadly at his princess, "Oh, dear, that poor boy must be as upset as we are right now."

 

"What do you mean?" Pidge asks.

 

The mustached mechanic puts a gloved hand on Allura's in a comforting gesture. "Well, back when Sendak blew up the bridge, Lance and I had been up there chatting about how far away Earth actually is. He expressed how utterly homesick he was, was very distraught about the whole thing."

 

The table grows quiet, all of them in their own way feeling sympathy for how much Lance misses home. Shiro begins to clean himself up a bit, preparing to go and get the boy, "I should probably go-"

 

With a squeak of Keith's chair and a few quick steps, they all watch the red paladin head into the hallways that leads to the exit of the Castle of Lions. Keith isn't angry as he heads back to the beach, he's just actually plain concerned. All of the pettiness of their rivalry starts to shed away. Keith knows very well what missing someone is like, he knows what's it's like to be painfully reminded of the past and things you won't be able to go back to. That feeling of being angry, of being lost.

 

When he gets back to the beach, the blue sun is under the horizon. The sky full of stars that he knows he's seen before, but at the same time he doesn't recognize them. Keith scans the immediate ocean, checking to see if his rival is still in the surf. He discovers that the blue paladin is in the red sand, knees draw up to his chest and staring at the stars above them. Keith approaches, Lance doesn't even look. "Stars sure are pretty..."

 

"Yeah," Keith takes a seat next to him, "they are."

 

"But, it's all wrong," Lance's tone hushes, choking him with distress.

 

"There's no Big Dipper, or Little Dipper. No Orion's Belt, no Zodiacs. No, nothing..."

 

Keith searches, not finding a thing that's even similar to Earth's sky. "Didn't know you knew constellations."

 

"Of course I do, I'm a space pilot... And I can't make sense of any of these. Not only that, look at the sand, the trees, the _maldición_ ocean!" Lance stops himself, shaking his head as a sad smile settles on his features. "Yet, the Spanglish still leaks out. All that time my instructors spent breaking me of it, all for nothin'."

 

Keith finally turns his head to look at Lance. His first instinct is to pity him, but he knows that isn't right. He doesn't know what to do for the Cuban boy, what to say to make him feel better about all of this. This isn't what he's good at, he isn't Shiro. "You're a jerk, you know that?"

 

"Oh?! _I'm_ a j-" Keith cuts the building shout off there.

 

"Yeah, you're a jerk. Having an advantage of living near an ocean with your family. Hunk told me all about it." The Korean's pent up frustration edges out of him. "And you know what? It was completely unfair you didn't tell me that you fight the ocean all the time, and you should've told me about your family. If your feeling bad about something, you tell me about it. I am your teammate, it's my job to help you with this emotional crud. So, stop being a jerk, okay?"

 

Lance is shocked, but Keith isn't even looking at him anymore. He's averted his eyes up to the stars, staring at them as if they have the answer to the lingering tension between the two boys. A part of Lance doesn't want to let Keith be so damn good at making him feel better, in his own roundabout way, Keith has singlehandedly reassured the reason of why Lance is still on Team Voltron. Then the touchy-feely part of Lance actually wants to tear up, and a small drop does actually gather at the corner of his eyes. Wiping the salty drops with the back of his hand, the blue paladin looks up at the stars too, "Thanks."

 

"For what? You're still an idiot."

 

"We had a bonding moment," Lance's chuckle betrays his accusing tone.

 

"Nope, this never happened." Keith shrug, smiling, eyes finally turning to meet Lance's. "But, seriously, you tell Pidge or Shiro about this I'll hurt you."

 

" _Keith actually cares!_ " he sing-songs at him, trademark smirk splattering across his face. "And I am so telling them that you care."

Keith sits up straighter, crossing his arms and scowling, much more like his usually self. "Lance, do not test me."

Lance replies to the pseudo-challenge by attempting to wrap an arm around the mullet boy's neck and put him into a headlock. The boys squabble in the sand, their arms failing, muttering insults amongst their grunts of effort to try and pin each other down. Keith is by far more built than Lance, but Lance is a slippery little bastard that seem's able to squeeze his way out of anything. It's hard for either of them to find leverage, the sand doesn't give them much support as they roll around in it, kicking up red dust as they go. Yet it's only a matter of time before Keith is sitting on Lance's stomach, keeping the Cuban boy's arms pinned to his chest.

 

"What-" he pants, "-did I say?"

 

Lance arches, but is far too worn out from playing to shake Keith off one last time. "You are a royal Douche."

 

"It kinda takes one to know one," Keith fires back lightly, easing his grip on the boy's bare wrists as to not hurt him.

 

"Gonna let me up?"

 

"Maybe."

 

"Dude." Lance dons on one of Keith's scowls, although in Keith's eyes it looks more like an adorable glorified pout. There's that little urge in the Red Paladin's chest, similar to the feeling of concern that lead him out here. This feeling isn't as nagging as it is natural, Lance just being Lance, Keith smiles.

 

Lance himself quits pouting when he spots the other boy's smile. Keith smiles a lot more than what most people give him credit for, Lance's heart swells a bit. In one way or another, Lance is responsible for that smile, a little victory and honor that he has over him. Keith can't witness himself smile like Lance or the others can.

 

Keith lets Lance's arms go, slides off of him and lays down beside him. Both of them gaze up at the stars again, Lance not hating them as much and Keith barely even focusing on them at all. Even though the sand is soft under him, laying on the hard ground is never comfortable for him, Keith tries his best not to move too much to make himself comfortable; trying not to tarnish the moment. He feels Lance's lanky arm reach over him, gripping him by the shoulder. "Human pillow," he mumbles as he pulls him into his chest.  Yes, this is much more comfortable for Keith, but at the same time he feels embarrassed and unsure.

 

 _This isn't what friends do._ The thought pricks his psyche as lets Lance wrap both of his arms around him.  _This isn't what teammates do_.  Keith recalls the reason he came out here, to help Lance with whatever he was struggling with.  Is this still apart of that, or is this something different. The nagging feeling in his chest feels hot, reaching up into his throat as some sort of burning anxiety.  Something so wrong and yet so right. "Tell me about your family," Keith struggles to keep his own voice even.

 

Lance clears his throat, tone cracking a bit.  Keith swears he can feel Lance's heart rate rising.   "Where do I start?" 

 

On goes the tale of the McClain family.  Keith doesn't say a word as Lance's tempo picks up along with his wild hand gestures towards the starts.  Small stories come with each member, Keith chuckles at the funny parts and he tilts up his head to look at Lance's face as he fills with expressions and intimations of his family.  It's so like Lance but at the same time it's something new.  Then at the very end, the smile drops, he almost glares at the stars.  "I miss them...  I miss them so much.  I hate myself because I should miss them more, y'know?"  Lance looks down at Keith.  "I let myself get so caught up in you a-and saving the freaking universe that I forget to miss them.  Then I get to a place like this and it hits me more than I can handle by myself."

 

The red paladin's heart skips a beat.  Obviously Lance's is his rival, but just the way he says it adds onto Keith's confusion.  "Lance...  We're saving the universe, the fact that you can set aside things like that for the greater good shows how strong and how hard you're working."

 

"Strong, huh?  Coming from you, it's gotta mean something.  But, it doesn't mean I don't feel any better about it."

 

" Look, Lance," he sighs, "I don't really have much back on Earth.   I...  I really just felt like an outsider, no place really wanted me.  But, here, I have something to fight for.  You...  And, uh, everyone else."  Keith tries not to let his face become as red as his lion.  "So, I don't know what I'm trying to tell you here.  But, I liked hearing you talk abou your family.  It's nice not fighting with you.  Like I said, I'm your teammate.  This is what I am here for."

 

They stare at each other, not glaring, not teammate mind-reading, just looking at each other in the eyes in a sense of just understanding.  Lance spots a lock of  Keith's mullet that had come untucked from behind his ear, almost automatically he reaches up to push it back with his hand, smoothing it as he goes and then not moving it from the back of the Korean's head.  The last straw, the finally gesture that this isn't a regular situation between two friends. Lance looks relieved after another moment of neither of them pulling away or glancing back at the stars.  "You really do care."

 

"So, what if I do?"

 

Lance chuckles.  "You're always so stoic and trying to be a badass, and all I wanted was to see you care about something or even me.  It means a lot, Keith."

 

"Lance, I-" Keith inhales sharply as Lance cranes his head down to press his lip against his. 

 

It's like a little explosion of emotion on both of the boy's chests. Lance didn't even mean to kiss him, he denied to himself that he wanted to but here he is kissing his rival. More importantly, Keith is kissing him _back_. The mullet boy reciprocated immediately after the initial shock and both of them it feels right. It's like it's the two of them, no universe to save, no home to be missing. Just them, under the stars.


End file.
